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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Activists Fight Plans To Spray Bugs In Forest

Environmentalists vowed Monday to stop a timber company from spraying a potent insecticide on 10,000 acres near Colville.

The state Department of Natural Resources will hold two meetings today over Boise Cascade Corp.’s request to use chemical warfare in its battle against budworms.

A state bug scientist, Karen Ripley of Olympia, has determined no significant impact would result from carbaryl, trade name Sevin 4-Oil.

Boise Cascade claims the insecticide is the best way to control an epidemic threatening its private holdings in the Huckleberry and Summit ranges, 20 miles southwest of Colville.

It wants to spray for five days in late June.

Budworm, which evolves from an inch-long caterpillar into a small moth, is munching the needles off Douglas, grand and subalpine fir, as well as Engelmann spruce and Western larch.

The infestation is lowering the market value of large trees and killing smaller ones, said Phil Anderson, Boise Cascade’s area forester in Kettle Falls.

The Washington Environmental Council and the Washington Toxics Coalition are fighting the proposal and vow to go to court if necessary.

“It’s definitely pretty nasty stuff,” said the coalition’s Cha Smith, director of pesticide reform and groundwater protection.

Carbaryl is a broad-spectrum insecticide, meaning it kills all insects, not just budworms, on contact or through ingestion.

All wildlife and fish that feed on insects will be harmed, while larger mammals that come into contact with the chemical could suffer hormonal difficulties, environmentalists said.

Compounding the hazard is that carbaryl often is mixed with diesel fuel when sprayed from helicopters.

But Boise Cascade’s Anderson said the volume of diesel is so slight that it won’t harm the environment or pose increased dangers of wildfires.

“We view this project as being necessary to the long-term health of our forests and to the maintenance of stands in a condition that can produce wood that we need for our mills,” Anderson said.

Boise Cascade owns 270,000 acres in northeastern Washington.

Bonnie Mager, who runs the environmental council’s Eastern Washington office, urges the timber company to use only a much safer, bacterial agent called bacillus thuringiensis.

“It’s biological warfare instead of chemical warfare,” Mager said.

The Boise Cascade project calls for the bacterial agent near streams to protect fish and water quality. But the company does not want to use it over a large area because of mixed past results, Anderson said.

Crop dusting with carbaryl costs about the same - $15 an acre - but with more effectiveness, he said.

“There is no long-term adverse effect on the environment,” Anderson said.

DNR scientist Karen Ripley called the proposal “sound” and said insect and bird populations would recover by the end of summer, according to the literature she has read.

In 1991, the last time Boise Cascade used carbaryl to rid budworm, a helicopter surveying the spray area crashed near Goldendale, killing a company employee and injuring the contract pilot.

A state Supreme Court commissioner then halted the spraying, agreeing it would harm the environment.

The state is taking written comments on the plan through January at its State Environmental Policy Act Center, Natural Resources Building, 1111 Washington St. SE, Room 1365, Olympia, WA 98504.

Or, interested citizens can testify at 1 p.m. today in Colville at the DNR conference room, South 225 Silke Road.

DNR scientists and experts representing Boise Cascade and environmentalists will meet three hours earlier to discuss a compromise.

xxxx Possible dangers Environmentalists say that all wildlife and fish that feed on insects will be harmed, while larger mammals that come into contact with the chemical could suffer hormonal difficulties.